Library experts archive items from Dallas police memorial

DALLAS (AP) — Library archive experts carefully sorted and saved items left outside Dallas Police Department headquarters after last month's fatal shooting of five officers.

Many of the objects will eventually be added to the Dallas History and Archive Collection at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/2aSrIy8 ) reported.

Four Dallas officers and a Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer were fatally shot July 7 by a sniper during a protest against police killings of black men in other states. The gunman died when police detonated a bomb attached to a robot.

After the slayings, two patrol cars were parked outside police headquarters as a location for mourners to express their sorrow and leave mementos.

Items from the memorial were laid out in a room in the lower level of the main public library in downtown Dallas, to sort and archive. Fourteen rows of tall bookshelves hold cards, posters, stuffed animals, shirts, hats and other gifts.

Library associate Adrianne Pierce said perishable items, such as flowers, had to be thrown away. All items personally addressed to relatives of the fallen officers were given to Dallas police and later delivered to the families.

"When actually touching and handling the items, I came across a child's drawing of police officers," Pierce said. "I couldn't help but feel overcome from the gravity of it all."

Items were sorted by similarities. Religious objects such as crosses, Bibles, statues and rosaries take up a 5-foot-long table.

"People left some of the most unique things to show how they were affected and that they were thinking of the officers," Pierce said.

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Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com

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